Reciprocator for grinding wheel spindles



Nov. 10, 1970 I R. c. BEAL RECIPROCATOR FOR GRINDING WHEEL SPINDLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 26,

INVENTOR RONALD C. BEAL ATTORNEYS Nov. 10; 1970 R. c. BEAL 3,53

RECIPROCATOR FOR GRINDING WHEEL SPINDLES Filed March 26, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR RONALD c. BEAL K 4-4 7; 1 Arm EYS United States Patent O 3,538,646 RECIPROCATOR FOR GRINDING WHEEL SPINDLES Ronald C. Beal, Pekin, Ill., assignor to Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, lll., a corporation of California Filed Mar. 26, 1969, Ser. No. 811,692 Int. Cl. B24b 7/00 US. CI. 5134 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A reciprocator for a grinding wheel comprising an air motor mounted within a reciprocatable sleeve upon which a cam is fixed. The cam is reciprocably actuated by a pair of rollers mounted on a rotatable housing.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an improved reciprocator, and more particularly to a means for reciprocating a grinding wheel utilized to remove parting line flash from the inside diameters of rough castings.

In the machine tool art, it is expedient to rotate a 'workpiece which is being ground on the inside diameter for well known reasons. Usually the work is rotated in the opposite direction to that in which the grinding wheel is rotated. Further, it is usually necessary to cause the wheel to move longitudinally along the workpiece surface to achieve a more uniform wheel wear while producing a higher quality finish in less time than would be possible were the wheel permitted to remain in a single longitudinal position.

Basically, the reciprocator comprises a rotatable housing carrying adjustable rollers on the interior of the housing which act upon a reciprocable, non-rotatable plate or cam which causes the longitudinal reciprocation of a rotating grinding wheel.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new and improved grinding wheel reciprocating mechanism.

It is a further object hereof to provide a grinding wheel reciprocator in which the amount of reciprocation can be controlled and adjusted.

It is a further object hereof to provide a grinding wheel reciprocator, together with means for rotating a workpiece to be ground.

It is also an object hereof to provide a reciprocator having a fixed coaxial relationship between the rotating and non-rotating portions thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and claims as illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show a preferred embodiment of the present invention and principles thereof and what is now considered to be the best mode contemplated for applying these principles. It is recognized that other embodiments of the invention utilizing the same or equivalent principles may be used, and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art, without departing from the present invention and purview of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, illustrating the means for rotating the workpiece relative to the grinding wheel; and

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional illustration of the reciprocator of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION There is shown in the drawings, a machine base 11 upon which is mounted a wear plate 13 having a workpiece 15 secured thereto. A grinding wheel 17 is illustrated within the workpiece and is rotated and reciprocated in a manner to be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a motor 21, in cooperation with a sprocket 23, a chain 25, and a sprocket 27, drives a spindle 29. In turn, the spindle 29, through a sprocket 31, a chain 33, and a sprocket 35, one of which is shown, drives a pair of workpiece engaging-and-rotating means, one of which is shown at 37.

Although any suitable work engaging-and-rotating means may be used, the means illustrated in FIG. 1 consists of a pair of radially grooved wheels around which an O-ring is stretched for frictional engagement with the workpiece 15.

Now referring to the reciprocator device illustrated in FIG. 2, there is shown a conventional air motor 41 having a spindle 43 with a shoulder 45 for mounting the conventional circular grinding wheel 17 by means of a cap screw 47 or any other suitable fastening means. The air motor is rigidly mounted within the reciprocator, generally shown at 49, by means of a conventional split tapered collet 53 which grips the outer diameter 51 of the motor as the collet is forced into a sleeve 57 in the reciprocator.

Reciprocator 49 is suspended from the machine base 11 by any suitable structure such as shown at 59. Supports 59 are suitably fixed to a nonrotating collar 61, through which the non-rotatable sleeve 57 reciprocates.

A dust seal 63, or any other dust shielding means as known in the art, may be provided as necessary.

A rotatable housing 65 of the reciprocator is driven by a sprocket 67 through a drive system, (not shown) which may be powered by the motor 21 or other suitable drive means. The lower portion of housing 65 is mounted on support 59 and is supported for rotation by an upper bearing 69 and a lower bearing, generally indicated at 71.

An upper roller 73 and a lower roller 75 are mounted on the housing 65 by means of a plate 77 which is held to the housing by a suitable means including a bar 79. The rollers are mounted on shafts 81 and 83 respectively and may be adjusted radially by adjusting the amount the shafts extend beyond nuts 85 and 87 which abut the plate 77.

Roller 73 and 75 are situated on either side of a washer-like, or cylindrical, cam 89 which is fixedly mounted on the reciprocatable, but nonrotatable, sleeve 57. Thus, as housing 65 rotates, rollers 73 and 75 rotate about the cam 89 causing it, and the sleeve 57 to which it is attached, to reciprocate, since the cam is angularly mounted on the sleeve. If the rods 81 and 83 are withdrawn from the housing so as to move rollers 73 and 75 radially outwardly, the amount of reciprocation will be increased.

A clearance 91 is provided in the Wall of the housing 65 so that plate 77 may be raised or lowered by adjusting a bar 79 by means such as set screws, not shown. This feature allows the limits of reciprocation of the sleeve 57, therefore the grinding wheel 17, to be controlled.

The operation of the device may be described as follows: Motor 21, through the drive means previously described, rotates workpiece 15 in a first direction and may also rotate the housing 65; alternatively, other means to rotate housing 65 may be provided. Air, entering the air motor 41 via a pipe 95 drives the air motor 41 such that the grinding wheel 17 is rotated in a second, or opposite direction, relative to that of workpiece 15. As the housing 65 rotates, wheels 73 and 75, moving about cam 89, cause the sleeve 57, in which the air motor is mounted, to reciprocate within the limits defined by the positions of rollers 73 and 75.

Thus, the applicant has produced a grinding wheel reciprocator which rotates the workpiece in one direction, while the grinding wheel is rotating in the opposite direction and is reciprocated within prescribed limits within the workpiece. Although only one embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and alterations of the structure may be made, but such alterations and modifications will not exceed the purview of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A reciprocator comprising a rotatable housing, roller means adjustably mounted on the housing, a cam means mounted for reciprocatable movement in the housing, means for moving the roller means relative to the cam surface of the cam means, a spindle means attached to the cam means, and means for rotating the spindle.

2. The reciprocator of claim 1 including means for adjusting the roller means radially relative to the rotatable housing.

3. The reciprocator of claim 1 including means for adjusting the roller means longitudinally relative to the rotatable housing.

4. The reciprocator of claim 1 including means for rotating a workpiece in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the spindle.

5. The reciprocator of claim 4 including a tool means mounted on the spindle whereby the tool means is rotated and reciprocated relative to the workpiece.

6. The reciprocator of claim 1 including a clearance aperture in the rotatable housing, means allowing longitudinal movement of the roller meanslimited by the boundaries of the clearance aperture-relative to the rotatable housing, and means allowing radial movement of the roller means relative to the rotatable housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,912,491 6/1933 Minett 5l34 2,252,176 8/1941 Harris S134 2,959,967 11/1960 Metzner 7656 WILLIAM R. ARMSTRONG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 51-48; 745 6 

